Hey everyone,

I was just wondering if it is possible to just study writing/reading/etc of simplified characters and in addition to that the reading of traditional characters. Because learning how to write traditional characters is slowing me down heavily, but I'd like to at least be able to read the traditional variants.

Not currently, no. Many users are interested in this, though:
http://www.skritter.com/forum/topic?id=48418419

Would be quite cool, but it's a bit of a trick on the back-end and a challenge on the front-end. Like Halloween candy from Grandma.

That is a commonly requested feature, but, at this time, it would be hard to implement. I think it is on their to do list.

I am also in that boat. I seriously DO NOT want to learn how to write traditional characters. Writing simplified but reading traditional is enough for me. Playing around with Anki(http://ankisrs.net/) I found someone had already made a deck of New Practical Chinese Reader's vocabulary. It unfortunately has both the simplified and traditional on the same card. The other side is the English meaning. Whereas admittedly imperfect, I didn't have to use any of my time getting it set up. I scan the traditional and simplified side by side. Slowly but surely it is sinking in.

I use Skritter for writing simplified and Anki for being able to read traditional. Until they add the feature you requested, that is the best method I have found so far.

Another option would be to study "both" and hit 4 ("too easy") whenever you see a traditional writing prompt.

Though it requires more effort, yet another option is to study Simplified and Previously Added Traditional. Then, go through your lists or click the magnifying glass for each entry where you want to study the trad and click the green + for reading/definition/whichever you want. Skritter will treat these as "added before, and you won't be bothered with the writing. James' way is far easier, though.

I agree with everybody here and would like to have better access to the etymology and traditional forms. Having to open the online dictionary every time wastes precious time.

I would be interested in a poll (or even better, straight-up data/stats provided by the Skritter guys) to show the percentages of simplified Chinese studiers, Vs. traditional Chinese studiers, and also the percentage of people who study both.

My guess is 70% simplified, 27 percent traditional , and 3 percent both. I can easily be totally wrong about this though!

The problem is that those of us who study both are very vocal. ;)

James

I'd like to be able to learn how to read the traditional characters but I'm also not too interested in learning how to write them.

I wonder if you can seperate the reading from the writing though? Would that stunt the learning process?